How to Throw a Pizza Party {with Ideas for Sides and Decorations}
Everybody loves a pizza party! Get the invitation ideas, side dishes, and decorations for throwing a pizza party your guests won’t forget.
Summer time is such a fun time to gather with friends and family and just celebrate! Celebrating birthdays, Father’s Day, Patriotic Holidays and just getting together to spend time.
A summer Pizza Party is a great way to do it. Here is a simple invitation that you can use for your next pizza party!
I’ve got tips and tricks for throwing the most successful pizza party that you can imagine! Some of these tips and tricks include things like, how to decorate for a pizza party, what sides go well with pizza and how to keep the pizza warm.
Pizza Decorations!
To start let’s begin by talking about our pizza party decorations. I love to stick to a theme. Theme’s make decorating so much easier because it narrows everything down to a specific area, which allows things to not get out of hand.
When I think of pizza, I think of Italian food, red, white and things that are circular (like a pie shape). So that is what I based my decorations off of.
- I started with Red table cloths. I like the simple throw away ones because it allows for an easy clean up.
- Next, I went to find some fun decorative plates and usable plates. I love the Red and White checkered plates. These help bring a pop to the table.
- For utensils, I provided some white forks, spoons and knives with white napkins. This helped pull all the colors together.
- Then, to help keep things simple I found some white balloons and decorated around the yard and inside the house with them.
Eventually, I had to move my party inside due to wind and rain, but because the balloons are so versatile it was a simple switch. Balloons help everything come together and can bring that pop to every party.
- Lastly, making a homemade pizza garland can be so fun. This can involve all your kids, education and inexpensive decorations.
- This homemade garland is the perfect touch. If you feel ambitious make a few of them to hang around the house or provide it as a fun activity for the kids to do at the party and then hang them up. Don’t worry about making them perfect or all the same as pizza is all very different!
- Finally, one of the most simple decorations you can do for a pizza party is the food!
Side dishes to go with a Pizza Party
Choosing food that goes with a pizza party can be really simple. I like to stick with the pizza shape and Italian theme. This helps you plan foods that go together and accentuate each other.
To start off think about pizza and what it all entails, you have a crust with sauce and a variety of toppings. Pizza is a heavier food, which means people probably want something that is lighter and refreshing to pair with it.
The first thing that comes to mind for pairing with pizza is adding a good variety of fruits and vegetables to the meal. This will help lighten the meal as well as help get in some more nutrients.
Some fruit to include is watermelon, pineapple and strawberries. Each of these fruits can specifically be cut into triangles mimicking the “pizza” shape.
Next, I love to add a couple of fun salads. I like to make salads with a variety of toppings like you do with pizza. People can either decide which toppings they want on their salads or you can space them around the salad in the true pizza fashion.
A couple salads in particular that I like are Summer Spinach Salad with your fresh berries, almonds and feta cheese or a Broccoli Salad with crumbled bacon.
Lastly, my favorite side or dessert to do with a pizza party is a Fruit Pizza. This is so fun to make and tastes amazing. I make mine gluten-free so that I can to enjoy it but another great recipe is by Mel’s Kitchen Café. The thing I love about fruit pizza’s is that you can add your special touch to them.
I like to add lots of berries like raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries,, but I have also done some with peaches, blackberries and whatever fruit I have! Another option for a desert is a pie or even a large cookie cut into slices if you are wanting something simpler.
What pizza to buy
Finally, getting to the pizza part of the Pizza Party. I like to provide a couple of varieties of pizza. Cheese and pepperoni is always a crowd favorite, so I like to have plenty of that. But also, make sure to include a couple of other varieties such as supreme, chicken alfredo and pineapple.
If I am making the pizza’s I like to make them and serve immediately after they are ready. I put place mat’s on the table with labels so that I know exactly where to put the pizza once they are finished cooking.
Cooking a few pizza’s at a time is ideal so that you have multiple ready at the same time. Better yet is if you have a couple of ovens to do this in. If you are buying store bought pizza’s heat your oven to about 125 degrees and place the pizza in there.
This will keep your pizza’s warm until you are ready to serve. The key here is to utilize all of the racks. If possible add a couple pizza’s to each rack and rotate them after you take them out.
Last but not least, don’t forget to take lots of pictures. Sit down, relax and enjoy your company. The pizza party is a great way to celebrate many big things, but also something as simple as a friendship or summer vacation. So if you are throwing the party don’t forget to enjoy it!
I would love to hear about some of your favorite party and get togethers. It’s not everyday that we get to celebrate so share with me some of your successes!
